


Family Reunion!

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 09:58:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13878504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Evergray arrives in New Hillcrest.





	Family Reunion!

The quiet town of New Hillcrest was unusually abuzz with chatter on this fine afternoon. For, in the town square, to the left of the horses, there was a rather odd person. And it was not Jamie Olivetree, the local baker, for she was currently sequestered inside her kitchen, dealing with an oil fire that had broken out while she had been cooking bread. No, the oddity was a man, one adorned with grey robes to hide the purple veins running through his skin. His dark grey hair was a complete mess, resembling something one would find on a wild man or perhaps a mad scientist. But the strangest part about him wasn’t his hair. Nor was it the staff that he held, with feathers and a mushroom hanging from it. No, the strangest part of the man who stood in the town square was the bright pink light beaming out from his eye and frightening the horses.

Unseen by anyone, Sunshine Joytree padded on her bare feet out of the town square and around the corner, where she walked into the sunflower field behind the Rockwell house and spoke into the large face of one of the sunflowers.

“Who is he?” one woman murmured to her neighbour as they stopped by the stand set up outside Jamie’s store to buy the least-burnt bread that she had on offer.

“I have no clue,” her neighbour replied, eyeing off the strange man and clutching her handbag a little tighter to her. 

“Where did he come from?” a man asked his neighbour, looking up from the Icelandic horse that he was currently busy calming down.

“No clue,” said the young woman. “I heard that he just showed up at the ferry docks around lunchtime. Gave the birds a right scare, he did. The way I heard it, a girl was riding past when he just suddenly popped into existence at the top of the stairs. Spooked her horse good.”

“He didn’t pop into existence,” said the girl, scowling as she came within earshot of the conversation.

“Well, that’s what I heard,” said the young woman, looking rather miffed at having her information questioned.

“He frightened me when he suddenly came up the stairs,” said the girl. “I didn’t know ferries even ran here anymore.”

“They don’t,” said Bernadine Winterwell, butting into the conversation as she was wont to do. “At least, they haven’t run for years, now. It’s actually next on the agenda to fix.” She gave them a dazzling smile, and strode over to introduce herself to the stranger.

The strange man had amassed quite a crowd by the time that Bernadine had made her way over there, but she managed to push through it so that she stood before the stranger, trying not to squint from the brightness of his eye.

“Hello, there, stranger!” said Bernadine, giving another of her dazzling smiles. “I haven’t seen you around here before.”

“Oh, so this isn’t a ghost town! I was beginning to suspect that it was, what with everyone ignoring me,” said the stranger. “In my defense, I have seen several ghost towns in my travels. They’re scary!”

“I’m sure they are,” said Bernadine, nodding. She held out her hand. “Bernadine Winterwell the Twelfth, mayor of this fine town of New Hillcrest, the smile capitol of Jorvik! And who might you be?”

“Oh!” said thr stranger, shaking her hand. Her grip appeared to pain him slightly, and she couldn’t help but notice the almost-feverish heat in his skin. “My name is Evergray, former member of the Keepers of Aideen, now exiled for daring to question the order.”

“Yes, fight the power!” said Bernadine, grinning and pumping the air with her fist. “Be the change you want to see in the world!”

“It has been a long time since I’ve been here,” said Evergray, looking around the square at all of the staring and murmuring people. He couldn’t help but notice that many people looked elsewhere when he looked at them.

“Well, if you’d like to stay, you’re more than willing to eat at our inn or our local café, and there is always room in our inn if you would like a bed for the night. I hope you enjoy your stay in New Hillcrest,” said Bernadine, the smile never fading from her face.

“Thanks,” said Evergray, grinning back at her. “It’s good to get such a warm welcome. I was expecting-“

“Evergray Alexander Grayson, what in the name of Aideen are you doing here?” an all-too-familiar voice thundered, and Evergray rolled his eyes before he turned around to face his brother with a grin.

“Hey, bro!” said Evergray, giving him a wave. “Long time, no see, huh?”

“I see that you haven’t changed a bit,” said Avalon. Seeing the crowd, he rummaged in his robes and then tossed a powder into the air. Everyone in the crowd instantly looked confused for a moment before wandering away, their minds on something else. “See, this is why you can’t be a proper Keeper of Aideen, you are the worst at keeping a low profile.”

“Yeah, see, that’s kinda hard to do when my eye works like a flashlight,” said Evergray. He began winking, causing the square to be washed in pink for a brief moment before returning to normal. This continued for several minutes. Avalon was not amused.

“Stop doing that,” said Avalon. Evergray sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Gee, bro, lighten up, it’s not the end of the world,” said Evergray.

“Actually, it is,” said Avalon.

“Oh, shit, really?” said Evergray. “For real this time?”

“Yes,” said Avalon. “Things are… well, I can’t very well say it here.”

“Why not?” asked Evergray. “Don’t they have a right to know if the world is ending? If their lives are in danger?”

“That will cause mass panic, Evergray,” said Avalon, as though he were explaining it to a child.

“Well, maybe it wouldn’t if you hadn’t kept them all in the dark for years,” said Evergray. Avalon sighed.

“At any rate, it is good that you are here,” said Avalon. “We need you. Fripp needs you. Anne needs you.”

“What did you do this time?” asked Evergray. Avalon bristled.

“I didn’t do anything,” said Avalon. “Thank you very much. It was Dark Core.”

“Oh, sure, blame them,” said Evergray.

“I mean it,” said Avalon. “We tried to rescue Anne-“

“Good job, you lost a Soul Rider.”

“Will you let me FINISH!” Avalon thundered. Evergray rolled his eyes at his brother’s tantrum.

“Just saying, losing a Soul Rider is a pretty big fuck up, as far as fucking up goes.”

“You are unbelievable,” said Avalon, clenching his hands into fists. “And, I’ll have you know that we found the other two Soul Riders and Guardians.”

“Oh, my goddess,” said Evergray, rubbing his temples. “What else did you lose while you were busy losing things, the Pandorian keystone?” Silence. “You didn’t.”

“It was destroyed in the confrontation between Fripp and Darko,” said Avalon.

“Of course, it was,” said Evergray. He sighed, shaking his head. “Is that why you brought me back here? To use me?”

“Well, it certainly wasn’t because I missed you,” said Avalon.

“Thanks,” said Evergray, glaring at his brother. “So good to know that I’m useful.”

“I’m sure that we can find another way, if you’re not up to the task,” said Avalon.

“No, I’ll do it,” said Evergray, giving his brother a stern glare. “If only to prove that I’m not as hopeless as you think I am.”

“Good,” said Avalon. “Then, I’ll send a message to the Spy Master to inform our current hero that you have arrived and that the next phase of our plan can commence.”

“Avalon, it’s the twenty-first century,” said Evergray. “Phones exist. Even I have one.” He took his mobile phone out of the pocket of his robes, a battered-looking old thing that looked as though it shouldn’t even be able to get mobile phone reception anymore. But it did, it had actually been one of his first projects. A phone that could work anywhere on Earth, and even in Pandoria.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” said Avalon, taking a rolled-up piece of paper out of his pocket. He unrolled it, then leaned it against the walls of the sale stables while he wrote a short message on it. That done, he handed it to a conveniently-nearby squirrel, which dashed off with it clutched in its paws.

The two brothers waited in silence for a while until the arguing started up again. It was inevitable, really, that two brothers should butt heads over everything. Even when the world was quite literally at stake.


End file.
